Monday, June 18, 2018

Trial Chamber reschedules filing of final briefs and oral closing arguments in July and August 2018 in the Ayyash et al. case

Trial Chamber reschedules filing of final briefs and oral closing arguments in July and August 2018 in the Ayyash et al. case

Leidschendam, 13 June 2018 - The Trial Chamber ordered the Prosecutor and the Legal Representatives of Victims in the Ayyash et al. case to file their final trial briefs by Monday 16 July 2018 and the Defence counsel for the four Accused by 13 August 2018.

In a revised scheduling order issued yesterday, the Trial Chamber stated that it will hear oral closing arguments from the parties and participating victims in the weeks of Monday 27 August to Friday 7 September 2018.

Under Rule 147 of the STL Rules of Procedure and Evidence, following the presentation of all the evidence, the Prosecutor, the participating victims and the Defence may file final trial briefs and present closing arguments.

The presentation of the closing arguments concludes the trial in the Ayyash et al. case. The Judges will then withdraw to deliberate and will issue a Judgement in due course. A finding of guilt may be reached only when a majority of the Trial Chamber is satisfied that guilt has been proved beyond reasonable doubt (Rule 148).

Background information:

The Prosecution closed its case against the four Accused on 7 February 2018.

On 7 March 2018, the Trial Chamber dismissed an application for a judgement of acquittal, under Rule 167, made by the Defence of Mr Hussein Hassan Oneissi. No other Defence counsel made applications under this Rule.

Further, of the four Accused, only counsel for Mr Oneissi elected to present a Defence case.

In April, the Trial Chamber had initially scheduled the filing of final briefs and closing arguments for June and July, respectively, but the order was later suspended due to procedural developments.

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